Marvel’s Shang-Chi to get Destin Daniel Cretton as director

Destin Daniel Cretton on the set of The Glass Castle. Photo by Jake Giles Netter.

Marvel Studios has been working on bringing more diverse superheroes to the big screen, especially with the black-led Black Panther and female-led Captain Marvel making Disney a lot of money. The studio is currently working on bringing the adventures of Shang-Chi to life, and Destin Daniel Cretton has been attached to direct the first Marvel Studios film with an Asian lead.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, it has been revealed that Marvel Studios has brought Destin Daniel Cretton on board to direct Shang-Chi. He is no stranger to actors from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Just Mercy, the current film he’s working on, stars Brie Larson (Captain Marvel) and Michael B. Jordan (Black Panther), who both starred in their respective MCU movies that have brought more fans into the fold. What are the odds of that happening?

Dave Callaham is serving as the screenwriter, who has co-written Wonder Woman 1984 and created the Jean-Claude Van Damme series, Jean-Claude Van Johnson. He also has a background in martial arts, so that’s a plus for writing a character that’s known as the Master of Kung Fu.

Marvel Studios is definitely looking to bring filmmakers of Asian descent with Cretton and Callaham attached. Next up is to see who they’ll hire as Shang-Chi.

Shang-Chi is known as the Master of Kung Fu, and he first appeared in December 1973 in Special Marvel Edition #15 and was created by Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin, who wrote the Infinity Gauntlet and Infinity War comic book series. In the comics, Shang-Chi was born and raised in China and learned martial arts from his father and teachers. It turns out that his father isn’t all he’s cracked up to be, and in the end, Shang-Chi will have to stop his father from taking over the world.